MORE NEWS, 5-27 (THE COPENHAGEN CALL ON CLIMATE CHANGE; $4 BIL FOR NEW ENERGY JOBS; HEARTLANDS WANT NEW ENERGY)

THE COPENHAGEN CALL ON CLIMATE CHANGE
The Copenhagen Call: 6 Biz-Friendly Steps To a Global Climate Deal
Katie Fehrenbacher, May 26, 2009 (Earth2Tech via Reuters)

"…500 executives from cleantech firms, utilities, and policy makers [met at The World Business Summit on Climate Change] in Copenhagen…[on] steps and targets needed to move away from a carbon-based economy while also protecting economic growth…[in anticipation of] the monumental United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in December in Copenhagen that will be a followup to the Kyoto agreements.

"…[T]he group issued a document, called The Copenhagen Call, which lays out key steps for policy makers and businesses to lead up to the talks in December…[T]he group said, 'The "Call" states that business leaders stand ready to make those changes and support ambitious political decisions that support economic recovery and safeguard the planet.'"

UN Secretart General Ban Ki Moon explains the importance. From via EUXTV YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJk3OGShxcE&feature=player_embedded

"…The [6 steps of the] Copenhagen Call:
1. Agreement on a science-based greenhouse gas stabilization path with 2020 and 2050 emissions reduction targets that will achieve it.
2. Effective measurement, reporting and verification of emissions performance by business.
3. Incentives for a dramatic increase in financing low emissions technologies.
4. Deployment of existing low-emissions technologies and the development of new ones.
5. Funds to make communities more resilient and able to adapt to the effects of climate change.
6. Means to finance forest protection."

[Al Gore, Nobel laureate for work on climate change:] “It is appropriate that the business community be invited here a half year before the political decision makers get here. Since one of the principal ways we decide what is valuable…is within the market place, it is critically important that we get the rules of the marketplace correct — and that the signals we derive from the marketplace is one that accurately reflect human values.”

[Shai Agassi, CEO, electric car company Better Place:] “We need to support the innovators.”

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[David Blood, Senior Partner, Generation Investment Management:] “There are a number of business leaders who are out there on a limb. We need to support those folks.“

[James Rogers, CEO, Duke Energy:] “We’re going to have to fundamentally redefine our business models in a low-carbon world…Every business has to look inward and figure that out.”

[Quoted from the Copenhagen Call document:] “Emission reduction at this scale will profoundly affect business…The new climate treaty must push the development of new technologies through public funds…Governments should strive to end subsidies that favor high emissions transport and energy infrastructure.”


$4 BIL FOR NEW ENERGY JOBS
Feds plan $4 billion for green jobs
May 25, 2009 (AP via USA Today)

"Some $4 billion from President Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan that was budgeted to renovate public housing will be spent to create so-called "green jobs" by making the dwellings more energy efficient.

"Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan [made the announcement]…at a meeting of Obama's Middle Class Task Force…Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, another task force member, also [announced]… that $500 million from the stimulus is becoming available to train workers for these jobs…[including] $50 million for communities battered by job losses and restructuring in the auto industry…Donovan and Solis also [announced]… their departments are working together to make it easier for public housing residents to find training programs or a green job."

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"The task force…has been working since January to highlight policies and practices to help improve the standard of living of the middle class, an income group that suffered as the economy faltered…The meeting…[outlined] different ways government departments are working together to steer the middle class toward green jobs…defined as related to helping the environment…[They] pay up to 20% more than other jobs, are more likely to be union jobs and are more likely to be held by men, less so by minorities and people who live in cities…These jobs also are ones that cannot be easily transferred overseas.

"Obama has pushed greening the economy — reducing dependence on foreign energy sources, developing domestic alternatives and easing the effects of climate change — as ways to help pull the economy out of its worst downturn since the Great Depression."

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"Donovan said… the investment in public housing will…[improve] the quality of public housing, [reduce] energy costs for residents and the government, and [create] jobs for people who live in the units and in the surrounding community…

"The energy, education and labor secretaries also…[announced] a partnership to help link the unemployed with jobs, training and education opportunities."


HEARTLANDS WANT NEW ENERGY
Backers pleased by Iowa's alternative energy efforts
May 26, 2009 (AP via Cedar Valley Daily Times)

"Two years into an effort to boost Iowa's alternative energy industry, the state [Office of Energy Independence] has given $35 million to established businesses, startups and academics to spur growth in the state.

"In return, officials said Iowa has seen 2,300 new jobs and the state has taken its place as a leader in the field…The [Office of Energy Independence] coordinates the Iowa Power Fund, a four-year program that offers $100 million for alternative energy projects…So far, there have been 196 applications totaling more than $389 million. A board has approved 24 projects and distributed $35,227,080, which supporters said leveraged $190.4 million in other funding."

From Iowa Green Jobs Now. (click to enlarge)

"Projects range from a $1.5 million effort to reduce the cost of drying the distillers grain byproduct of ethanol in Ames to $250,000 for vertical wind turbine manufacturing in Oxford. Other efforts involve biodiesel, biomass briquettes and the production of methane from cattle manure.

"Gov. Chet Culver has bet much of his political future on alternative energy. The power fund was a centerpiece of his campaign for governor, and he managed to push the program through the Legislature…Lawmakers have allocated $49.6 million for the effort over the last two years…The governor's alternative energy efforts have been largely popular in the Legislature, although some have questioned oversight of the power fund…[because] the state loses its investment if a project fails…[If it succeeds] the state benefits through additional taxes paid by workers and the businesses."

Iowa now gets more than 7% of its power from wind and has just begun to tap its potential. (click to enlarge)

"Iowa's efforts come at a time when national energy consumption is projected to grow by 23 percent in the next 20 years…Iowa is among 29 states that have adopted renewable energy standards. Iowa was one of the first states to do so, requiring in 1983 that 2 percent of the state's energy would come from renewable source. The state met that goal in 1999.

"By the end of 2008, 15 percent of the electricity generated in Iowa came from wind power. That's up from 5 percent in 2006 and leaves Iowa ranked second nationally in wind power capacity…That puts Iowa on a par with many European nations that have stressed alternative energy for decades. Denmark, for instance, gets 20 percent of its electricity from wind…"